By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Despite it being summer vacation, kids filled the front lawn of Bucyrus Elementary Monday. The beginning of the week served as the start of the annual Bucyrus Safety Town program, a week-long event geared towards teaching children about different types of safety.
Now in its fourth year, the return of Safety Town to Bucyrus was made possible by the efforts of Sarah Lipscomb who, as a seventh grader, used bake sale money and secured a grant from the Community Foundation for Crawford County to get the program running. Heading into her junior year at Bucyrus High School, Lipscomb still oversees the event.
“This year we have a lot more kids,” Lipscomb said, then added, “A lot is definitely an understatement.”
Sporting a neon pink Bucyrus Safety Town T-shirt, Lipscomb was a general overseeing her troops from underneath a canopy, blowing a horn to signify the end of a session and confirming that, yes, that child could ride one of the trikes. All of that before dashing off to grab lunch for the volunteers and preparing for the afternoon session.
This year, 74 kids were signed up for the program, the most since its inception. Since Lipscomb started her own version of Safety Town, she has since expanded enrollment from children who lived within the Bucyrus city limits to children living all across the county and even spilling a bit into Wyandot County.
“More people seem to be responding, asking about it throughout the year. Definitely a lot more interest in it, which is good,” Lipscomb said. “Initially we just wanted kids in the Bucyrus city area because they are going to be the ones exposed to crosswalks and everything like that more often, but we have kids from Galion, Nevada, all over the place.”
She added that half of the kids in the morning session were Wynford students, but Bucyrus, Colonel Crawford, St. Pete’s, and Buckeye Central students are also taking part in the program this year.
PHOTO GALLERY: 2017 Bucyrus Safety Town
“I guess I’ve been more proud of it this year since it seems spread so far,” Lipscomb said. “It’s kind of crazy. I never expected it to get this big or be as popular as it is, but I’ll take it. It’s definitely a goal I didn’t think I’d reach.”
Monday served as Pedestrian Safety and Police Day. Officer Jo Stahl taught the students how to safely cross a street while Dispatcher Jennifer Gerger introduced the kids to K9 Rosco. Police Chief Dave Koepke turned into a teacher for the day, holding court in a classroom as he told the children about Eddie the Eagle and gun safety, a new program this year.
The kids left for the day with paper police hats, badges, and a traffic safety coloring book.
A unique thing about Safety Town is the children who return to help teach other kids safety techniques or the ones who make sure their family is being safe.
One of Lipscomb’s favorite stories is about a former Safety Town graduate who attended the Bratwurst Festival with her family shortly after going through the program.
“Every time, she’d make them walk in the crosswalk, she’d make them stop, look, and listen, recited the whole thing every time,” Lipscomb said with a laugh. “It’s really cool hearing those stories about the kids who really remembered it, took it to heart, and actually got something out of the program.”
Safety Town will continue throughout the week with Bike Safety and Personal Safety on Tuesday, Neighborhood Safety on Wednesday, Fire Safety Day on Thursday, and an overview and graduation on Friday. Columbia Gas will also return to do a “sniff test” with the kids and the health department will even take part in the educational program. The Bucyrus Fire Department will be having a junior firefighter program for the attendees where the kids will be able to dress up in firefighter costumes and have tiny firetrucks to help save the Safety Town village.
Lipscomb has committed to running the program next summer, but admitted that they may be looking for someone else to take over after that. Anyone interested in taking over the program can contact the Bucyrus Police Department at 419-562-1006.
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